The plot thickens at shortstop for the Red Sox: Marco Scutaro or bust?

APMarco Scutaro may be the best shortstop available on the free agent market, bu that doesn't mean he's the right choice for the Red Sox.

Oh, shortstop. How ye slay thee.

Yes, it's safe to say that the No. 6 hole in the defensive lineup has been a massive weakness for the Red Sox in recent years. Repeating that is like mentioning that some guy named Clemens used to be a pretty good pitcher or some dude named Rice once hit impressive longballs at Fenway Park.

Nevertheless, here we are again talking about how the Red Sox should address shortstop in 2010, now that Alex Gonzalez has flown the coop for Toronto and there is no apparent option on the current roster that can be counted on to consistently play at a high level for 140-plus games in 2010.

As the Globe's Peter Abraham pointed out over the weekend, Marco Scutaro, the class of the weak 2010 free agent shortstop class, told the Venezuelan newspaper Diaro Panorama that four teams have expressed interests in signing him: the Red Sox, the Dodgers, the Mariners and the Rangers. As playoff contenders, the Dodgers and Red Sox are the teams "that would interest me," he said.

The situation is complicated. Signing Scutaro will cost the Red Sox a first-round draft pick, since he is considered a Type-A free agent. He also won't come cheaply, given the largely sorry alternative options that are available, and has career statistics that don't come close to measuring up to the statistics he put up in 2009, as Over the Monster pointed out in great detail yesterday.

This is exactly the kind of situation that astute general managers like Theo Epstein do not like to put themselves: overpaying for potential mediocrity because they're dealing for a position of weakness.